Task force: Use Trinity site for federal research facility if hospital moves

An aerial view of the current Trinity Hospital site as seen in January 2008. (The Birmingham News/Joe Songer)

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Trinity Hospital's 120-acre Montclair Road campus should be turned into a federal medical and research facility, if Trinity succeeds in its effort to relocate to U.S. 280, a task force has recommended.

In a report to Mayor William Bell obtained by The Birmingham News, the Montclair Redevelopment Task Force outlined its work between November 2010 and May 2011, settling on two main recommendations.

In its most ambitious recommendation, the task force encouraged the city to pursue possible government uses, saying "the property is ideal for a multitude of federal uses, including, but not limited to, federal medical and research facilities."

Members of the task force met with representatives of the offices of the congressional delegation to push the Montclair campus for specific uses, according to the report, by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Department of Defense -- possibly as a Southern branch of a military medical center -- as well as the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as well as other agencies.

In an interview Friday, Dave Hofstetter, head of real estate acquisition for the General Services Administration's Southeast office, said the Montclair campus appears able to meet the general requirements necessary for federal government use, though minor changes would be needed depending on which agencies are looking for space, he said.

"You would like to have -- in the cases of the VA, CDC and agencies like that -- a campus-like environment where you could have a number of different functions that may be performed by a single agency or the consolidation of multiple agencies," he said.

Master planThe task force's other recommendation calls for bringing in a team from the Counselors of Real Estate, a group of national commercial real estate experts, to help formulate a master plan for the property. The CRE's Consulting Corps, which only takes on a handful or projects a year, is expected to come to Birmingham this fall for an intensive, week-long study of the Montclair property and provide a comprehensive redevelopment plan.

"It is anticipated that the end result of that process will be a strategy for focusing on a development that is residential, commercial, healthcare-related, educational or mixed-use in nature," the report said.

Bell formed the 16-member task force nearly a year ago to explore options for the campus, its five main buildings, two stand-alone buildings and three parking decks, with parking for more than 2,000 cars. Trinity Medical Center won state approval to relocate to the unfinished former HealthSouth hospital on U.S. 280 nearly a year ago. Those relocation efforts have been delayed by legal challenges from Trinity's competitors.

Should Trinity prevail in its legal challenges, the hospital company wants to spend $280 million to vacate the Montclair Road campus, complete the U.S. 280 hospital and move.That move likely would not happen before 2013.

Valerie Abbott, the Birmingham City Council member representing the district that includes the Montclair site and a member of the task force, said Friday that a federal research and medical campus is not out of the realm of possibility.

"I think everybody thought that would be a wonderful thing if we could accomplish it. Bringing it to fruition is another matter," she said. "I'm sure every city in America is trying to attract the federal government to come renovate something or build something. We don't have too many delusions. But we had to develop a plan and in the middle of a recession it's hard to come up with fabulous ideas when you know there's not anybody out there whose got any money to do anything."

Patrick Murphy, head of economic development with the Birmingham Business Alliance, said the two recommendations going after a wide variety of possible uses make sense.

"I think both of those ideas are worth pursuing," Murphy said. "Creating awareness of the availability and possibilities of that property to the public and private sectors should be the first goal."

The task force did note the 45-year-old main hospital tower on the campus may be too obsolete to save for future medical use.

While the age of the original hospital building may present a challenge to convincing the VA or Department of Defense to open a federal medical center on the property, the task force contends that the building could be retrofitted or, if necessary, demolished and a new facility built on the existing footprint, the report said.

For the Montclair site to be used by the GSA for a federal use, it would require a waiver from an executive order requiring government offices to locate in a city's downtown if at all possible.

Abbott said it is common knowledge the VA is already looking in Birmingham for new medical space, so the possibility is not so far-fetched.

"There could be other federal uses that no one knows about right now," she said. "There are some very enticing points about the property that would make it attractive. I think if we weren't sitting here in the middle of a recession, everything might be different."

Bell said the ideal "win-win" for Birmingham would be for Trinity to complete its move to U.S. 280 and for the Montclair campus to find a new life.

Griffin Lassiter, senior project manager with the mayor's office of economic development, chaired the task force. He said the CRE officials will likely visit in October.

While the officials donate their time, CRE requires a $25,000 fee for the members' travel expenses and administrative costs. The task force report said the City of Birmingham's Office of Economic Development and Trinity Medical Center each contributed $7,500, while the City of Mountain Brook and Baptist Health System each contributed $5,000 to secure the group.